Page 31 of Blood and Magic
“Vermillion?” She raised her eyebrows and smiled, and I shook my head before pushing upright, trying to tamp down the burn in my cheeks. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, fine,” I said, nodding toward the front door. “Let’s go.”
“Are you sure I have to come with you? I could keep all the alarms on and promise to check in.”
Maybe my best friend, the big, stupid oaf, had a point. Maybe making her stay with me all day was too much. There was a security system here, like she’d said. And I didn’t want to think of myself as a stalker, but when I’d gotten hold of her phone at breakfast, I’d installed a bug that alerted me if she suddenly dropped it or screamed for help. If I happened to also be able to track her movements, telephone calls, search history, and texts…well, that couldn’t be avoided. It was for her safety, after all.
She grimaced and rubbed her temples. “It’s just…after the ride this morning, my head is killing me. I think I’m getting sick.”
Fuck.
Lycan’s warning resurfaced in my mind, but I stuffed it down. Sometimes, a headache was just a headache.
“What time does the staff leave?” I figured she wasn’t really alone, considering there were other people throughout. They wouldn’t be that much help against a vampire, but perhaps I could keep tabs on her from the barn. It wasn’t that far away, was it?
“Eight, after dinner,” she explained.
My wolf grimaced and shook its hackles, clearly not liking the thought of letting her out of his sight.
“Please?” She stuck out her lower lip in a pout. “I promise I’ll be good.”
I ignored the effect her words had on me, instantly taking me back to the dream where I’d chased her through the woods and threatened to punish her. I took a deep breath and let it out on a sigh, berating my cock for its pathetic jerk. “Fine. But you will check in with me every half hour, and if I don’t hear from you, I’ll come looking.”
She nodded and gave me a mock salute. “Will do.”
“I’ll be back for dinner.” I adjusted my hat and straightened my cut as Maeve smiled. I pretended like the sight didn’t melt my cold, dead heart.
“Looking forward to it.”
Fuck me. I cleared my throat and forced my feet to head for the stairs. When I got back to the barn, Poe and Fenris teased me about caving to Maeve’s wishes, but I snarled at them and we returned to work.
True to her word, Maeve sent me increasingly taunting texts every thirty minutes. I was checking the pregnant cows when the first one came through.
Maeve: I’m still working if you’re still lurking.
I sent her back a thumbs-up.
Thirty minutes later, I had just finished documenting which cows were nearing their fertile period when the second one came through.
Maeve: What do you call sheep sliding down a hill?
Maeve: A lambslide.
Maeve: :-D
I rolled my eyes and chuckled, clicking into my app that would let me watch her through her laptop. She typed on the keyboard and grinned, her eyes glancing at her phone occasionally, like she was waiting for me to respond.
When the third check-in came through, I had to physically restrain myself from going into the house after her.
She sent a selfie worthy of being posted as a thirst trap. The top two buttons on her shirt were undone, and the camera angle was high enough to see right down the front. She had her hair down and her eyes wide, and fuck…her perfect lips pulled into a devastating smile.
Maeve: Proof of life.
I took a deep breath to calm my suddenly racing heart, the shock settling somewhere around my cock as it twitched to life with wanton expectation. My wolf howled at me to make her grin for other reasons, but I ignored that, too.
Me: Don’t be a tease.
Maeve: A tease? If you want the full monty, you’ll have to be nicer than that.
